Coffee-cleaner



\NO Mndel.)

B. W. YOST.

COFFEE CLEANER.

No. 545,185. Patented Aug, 2'7, 1895.

wi/hwoaca I l a UNITED STATES BEYNARD XV. YOST, OF LANCASTER,

SOHELLY, OF PHILADELPHIA,

PATENT QFFICE.

ASSIGNOR OF ONEHALF TO JOEL P.

PENNSYLVANIA.

COFFEE-CLEANER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,185, dated August2'7, 1895. Application filed February 16 1895. Serial No. 538,728. (Nomodeld To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BEYNARD WV. YOST, a citizen of the United States,residing in Lancaster, in the county of Lancaster, State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Coffee-Cleaners, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in that class of devices designedfor cleaning coffee; and the object of the improvement is to separateall undesirable matter from the coffee. In cleaning cofiee it isdesirable to remove all broken berries from the highest and best grades,while with the lower and poorer grades the broken and smaller berriesare retained with the coffee and only the foreign matter and unseparatedberries are removed therefrom; and the lower the grade the smaller theberries and parts thereof which are intended to be retained with thecoffee.

\Vith these ends in view the invention consists in the construction andcombination of the various parts, as hereinafter described, and thenpointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification,Figure 1 is a side elevation of the cleaner; Fig. 2, a top plan view ofthe same, the screens being partially cut away; Fig. 3, a longitudinalvertical section; Fig. 4, an elevation of the end of the cleaner atwhich the power is applied; Fig. 5, an enlarged side view of theconnection between the cam and a reciprocating rod, and Fig. 6 anelevation of the discharge end of the deflector.

Similar letters indicate out the several views.

For the purposes of this specification the upper end of thescreen-frame, orthat to which thecoffee is delivered, is termed the headand the lower or discharge end the foot.

Referring to the details of the drawings, A indicates the longitudinalbeams of the base of the frame supporting the cleaner, and A thecross-pieces of said base.

B designates the posts supporting the operating mechanism, 8' a orosspiece connecting the posts, and B diagonal braces thereof.

like parts through- To the outer edges of posts 13 are attached bracketsb on the tops of which are secured journal-bearings b supporting theshaft (3, actuated through belt pulley G mounted thereon.

D indicates a screen-frame supported near the delivery end D by posts E,having elbows d on their lower ends, bolted to a cross-piece A framed inbeams A, and similar elbows (1' on their upper ends, bolted to across-piece d on the bottom of the screen-frame. Similar posts E supportthe receiving end of the screen-frame, and have their lower ends abolted to cross-piece B and elbows 6' formed on their upper ends andbolted to cross-piece d on the bottom of the screen-frame. Posts E and Eare rigidly attached where connected with the other parts of thecleaner, and are formed of plates of spring metal or other elasticmaterial. Longitudinal reciprocating motion is imparted to thescreen-frame through rods F. One end of each of these rods has a camconnection with shaft 0, as

shown at 0?, the wear of the bearings of said shaft in rods F beingtaken up by the horizontally-adjustable caps a. and Wedges a. The otherends of rods F are rigidly secured to a plate 11, extending transverselybeneath the bottom D of the screen-frame. Between their ends rods F areformed of any flat elas tic or spring material.

The screen-frame carries four separate screens. The compartment ibeneath the screen I at the lower end of said frame is separated fromthe compartment K beneath the other three screens by a partition I. Thescreen K, covering the upper end of compartment K is of the coarsestmesh used with the cleaner, the screen K covering the lower-end of saidcompartment, of the finest, and the screen K, between screens K and K ofa medium-sized mesh. The refuse received in compartment K through thescreens above it is delivered into an inclined trough L, extendingtransversely of the lower end thereof, and thence discharged by themovement of the screen-frame. At the lower end of the screen-frame thereis a similar trough L, which receives the refuse matter passing over allthe screens.

The meeting edges of screens K, K, and K are supported by transversebars K secured in the sides of the screenframe above the bottom thereof.Over and above the bar K on which screens K and K meet, is a feed pipeM, on the-lower end of which is a revoluble elbow-spout M, adapted to beturned to discharge on either screen K or screen K. \Vhen it isdesirable that the coffee be atonce fed to screen K a removabledeflector or chute N is placed over the screen-frame and secured theretobeneath spout M by hooks m and staples a, said chute delivering directlyto screen K The first three screens. K, K, and K are of the ordinarywire mesh; but screen I is formed by puncturing a plate with ovalopenings of a size to permit the passage of fully-developedcoffee-seeds, as seen in Fig. 2. g

The cleaner herein described is more particularly designed for removingforeign matter from the coffee after it is roasted. The extent to whichcoffee is cleaned is determined by its quality, the coarser grades notrequiring the amount of screening necessary for the finer grades. Thefinest coffee is delivered to'the coarser screen K and is carried downover screens K and K to screen I by the movement of the screen-frame,and passing through the oval openings in screen I into compartment 1' isdischarged through a trough or chute l in the bottom thereof, beingreceived by a bag (shown by dotted lines) supported by a frame R. Theinforior kinds of coffee, according to their grades, are delivereddirectly to sieves K or K To reach the latter primarily the deflector orchute N is placed on the screen-frame beneath spout M with its lower endin position to deliver the coffee to screen K In all cases the ravelingsof the coffee-bags or other fibrous matter pass over all the screens andare delivered into spout L and thence discharged into a receptacle T,placed in position to receive the same.

To screen the coffee thoroughly it is necessary that the movement of thescreen-frame be as smooth and gentle as possible. With this end in viewthe throw of the cams is comparatively slight; and in order to avoidundue jerking and jarring of the screen-frame the posts E and E and rodsF are formed of elastic orspring material and rigidly attached to saidscreen-frame instead of being of rigid magerial and havinga hingeconnection there- Wit This machine is essentially a coffee-cleaner, nota coffee-grader. It is intended to remove undesirable matter from coffeeof different grades, not to separate the seeds of difierent sizes fromeach other. With this object in view the screens are arranged in theorder shown and described. Coffees of the best quality are fed to theupper screen K, the mesh of which is of such size as to permit allmatter therein of smaller size than the fullydeveloped berries to passthrough; and after the coffee leaves the upper screen no other matter isseparated therefrom by the screens it moves over until it reaches thelast one I, through the openings in which the berries of normalsizepass, the fibrous or other long matter and the unseparated berriessliding down to the lower spout L. The only possible benefit this gradeof coffee can receive from passingover the intermediate screens K and Kis in having rubbed off of it any dust which may have adhered thereto.It is not desirable that the next inferiorgrade be cleaned as thoroughlyas the best-that is to say, the smaller seeds are not to be removed orsorted outand therefore this grade is fed directly to screen K, having afiner mesh than screen K. In like manner with the feeding of the nextlower grade to screen K still smaller grains are intended to be retainedin it, the dust, the unseparated berries, and the long matter only beingremoved from it.

It is evident that numerous changes in the construction of the cleanermight be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of myinvention. Hence I would have it understood that I do not confine myselfto the exact construction shown and described, but consider myself atliberty to make such changes as fairly fall within the spirit and scopeof my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what Iclaim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with a reciprocating screen-frame, of series ofscreens arranged in succession from the head toward the foot thereof,the mesh of said screens decreasing in size from the head to the foot ofsaid frame, a device adapted to discharge alternatively onto two of saidscreens adjoining each other, means for conveying the discharge fromsaid device directly to a screen below said two adjoining screens, and ascreen forming a con tinuation of said series of screens and having amesh larger than the mesh of any of the screens of said series, for thepurpose specified.

2. The combination, with a reciprocating screen-frame, of a series ofscreens of different sizes of mesh, a revolnble spout adapted to deliveronto two of said screens adjoining each other, means for conveying thedischarge from said spout directly to a screen below said two adjoiningscreens, and a screen forming a continuation of said series of screensand having a mesh larger than the mesh of any of the screens of saidseries, for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, with a reciprocating screen-frame, of a series ofscreens of different sizes of mesh, a revoluble spout adapted to deliveronto two of said screens adjoining each other, a chute constructed to beremovably secured to the frame under the spout and discharging to ascreen below the spout, and a screen forming a continuation of saidseries of screens and having a mesh larger than the mesh of the screenonto which said chute de-.

in succession from the head toward the foot thereof, the mesh of saidscreens decreasing in size from the head to the foot of said frame, asingle compartment extending beneath said series of screens and having adischarge opening, a device adapted to discharge alternatively onto twoof said screens adjoining each other, means for conveying the dischargefrom said device directly to a screen below said two adjoining screens,ascreen forming a continuation of said series of screens and having amesh larger than the mesh of any of the screens of said series, and aseparate compartment located beneath said screen having the larger mesh,for the purpose specified.

5. The combination, with a reciprocating screen-frame, of a series ofscreens arranged in succession from the head toward the foot of theframe, the mesh of said screens decreasing in size from the head towardthe foot of the frame, a single compartment extending beneath saidseries of screens and having a discharge opening, a revoluble spoutadapted to deliver onto two of said screens adjoining each other, achute constructed to be removably secured to the frame under the spoutand discharging to a screen below the spout, a screen forming acontinuation of said series of screens and having a mesh larger than themesh of any one of said series of screens, and a separate compartmentlocated beneath said screen having the larger mesh, substantially as andfor the purpose specified.

BEYNARD W. YOS'I. WVituesses:

WM. R. GERHART, J AOOB HALBAOH.

